German tourist shot and seriously wounded in Rio slum

May 31, 2013|Reuters

BRASILIA, May 31 (Reuters) - A German tourist was shot andseriously wounded in the stomach on Friday in one of Brazil'slargest slums, where drug traffickers still control areasdespite a crackdown in 2011.

Frank Daniel Benjamin, 25, was shot in an alley of thepoorest section of the Rocinha slum on Rio de Janeiro's southside, a police statement said. A local resident picked him offthe ground and carried him to a police unit from where he wasrushed to hospital with a serious wound to the liver.

The shooting added to a recent wave of violence that has hitvisitors to Rio, including the brutal kidnapping and rape of anAmerican tourist that shocked the tourist trade.

The violence just weeks before Rio hosts soccer games in awarm-up for the 2014 World Cup has raised alarm over the city'sability to control crime and ensure the safety of visitors in acity that will also hold the Olympic games in 2016.

In July, hundreds of thousands of Catholics are expected todescend on Rio to see Pope Francis on his first trip abroad aspontiff.

The recent violence has raised questions about theeffectiveness of efforts to "pacify" Rio's large slums bysending in troops and police to dismantle drug-traffickingrings.

The Rocinha slum, part of a shanty town perched on steephillsides, was "pacified" in November 2011 and now attractsvisits by foreign tourists on guided tours.

The German tourist, however, was shot in the poorest part ofthe slum known as "Dirty Clothes," where drug traffickers stillrule a maze of back alleys that are hard to patrol and touristsnormally do not visit, a police source told Reuters.

A friend who was with the wounded man told police they weresurprised in an alley by an armed man who shot at them when theyran off.